Blue & Gold

I walked past Patrick Nicely @ the Info openhouse. He's huge. He definitely passes the eyeball test. He really looks like an NFL QB (not saying he is, of course; just saying height & build.) He's got a good swagger (Old Spice?) about him too, which you really want in a QB.

It's still hard for me to believe that it NEEDS TO BE A FREAKING RULE IN THE FIRST PLACE.It should have been common sense. A rule like that needs to be put into place not to stop mistakes, but to stop corrupt decisions.Amen.

Where does Prunty attend high school?

I thought I read somewhere that we don't compete with them? I saw some clown with an OSU soccer t-shirt at the open house today. Likewise, I saw some guy's little kid draped in an Ohio State jersey. Oh well. I guess this will become more common as the stadium attracts more fairweather/casual fans.I have to remind myself not to get toooooooo upset at them because I honestly think it will take a generation before we see absolutely loyal Zips fans. I think that for anyone out of college already the best we can hope for is to make them both UA and Columbus State fans. At least they're @ The Info. Some of these people may want to experience a college game environment, want to try to fit in with the festive atmosphere, but only have OSU gear. Hopefully that will change REAL FAST. But anyway, I digress. Yeah, when I see that I get p!ssed right off too.

The "ziggy zoggy ziggy zoggy oy, oy, oy" is hilarious and cool! Had I known that I would have been yelling myself hoarse all along!

Fortunately, S Main & the 22 E Exchange apartments are only about 1/4 a mile from campus. I think that entertainment district of downtown has a ton of potential for a college town atmosphere.Unfortunately, most of the remaining structures along the ole Zip Strip are such dinky, delapidated eyesores that I'm hoping the U eventually buys most of them up and simply razes them for future UA development. Party in the entertainment district; clean up the Zip Strip.

I don't know if this had been mentioned before, I stopped by the OBC a few days ago and asked my server about their pending relocation.She said that the OBC was going to relocate to the currently-under-renovation Kaiser Building across from Canal Park. Being a Tony Troppe redevelopment project it is guaranteed to be a gorgeous space. I'm pretty excited about the new location. The OBC's current location, IMHO, is just too massive for a micro-brewhouse. Even Kalamazoo's Bell's "ecentric cafe" was more along the lines of a Kaiser Building type of square footage. The beer will still be brewed downtown, but @ another, as yet to be decided upon, location.

Okay, I'm about a decade behind here, but I just joined facebook. I remember there being a facebook Akron Zips fans group, or something along those lines? I'd like to join. How do I find it?

Recently posted on Ohio.comTommy Boy

I mean the university as a whole. The university is growing and progressing quickly. The direction that the entire university is moving is not benefitted by being involved in a conference that no one cares about. I understand your defeatist attitude. It's much easier to say that everything sucks, it lacks any value, and it never will have any value. I get it, it's easy, because anytime something remotely negative happens you can say "look I was right". The problem is that the people involved now, the people who make decisions, don't want to be just "General Dollar" they don't want to just be some pissy little group of buildings sandwiched betwee downtown and the ghetto. That means building a campus people want to be on, building facilities people want to play in, and having vision enough to see that 5-10 years from now things can be different here.You can see it in our research, you can see it in how programs are constantly being rated higher, you can see it in the attitude of the new students. Athletics is just a small part. But unfortunately it is the most visible part. The average person doesn't know that The University of Pittsburgh developed the polio vaccine, but they do know that Florida was the National Champions. Proenza and the board of trustees recognize this, and that is why they have pumped nearly 100 million into the athletics programs. Is it the 300 million Minnesota spent on their stadium? No. But you know what it's a start. And the ammenities for the fans are strikingly similar.I will be happy if we can be a Boise State or Utah (undefeated BCS busters). But I will settle for being like Cincinnati (10-2 (should have been 9-3 damn it) Big East Champs). But it takes vision to get there, a willingness to accept change and determination to create it.Actually, I don't think my attitude is defeatest in the least. The only thing I want to be right about is UofA having the best teams in a bad conference and I believe that is possible. Our basketball team is a perfect example of that and I'm happy for their success. I wish all of our sports programs were experiencing their success. The soccer team is a better program and operates on a different level than our other sports so they should be kept out of the best team in a bad conference discussion. I'm not some Browns fan that roots for failure so I can be right about something. There is no joy in watching the MAC flounder year after year since 1940 whatever. At some point, reality has to set in for the member institutions and the question needs to be asked, "How do we at least make a bad conference presentable?" I think that is reality and an achievable goal for the MAC. I don't know exactly how to make the MAC more presentable, but I think they need to start with making the league smaller. The second is out of our control....the NCAA needs to make a group of 40 schools that are the highest level in college football and stop the charade that they treat all schools the same. These would be positive reforms that would benefit the Zips long term.GP1, while driving through Michigan on vacation I had a change of heart. I think you are right about Eastern Michigan. I like the Michigan flavor of the MAC - Eastern, Central & Western. I still think we should drop Can't & BGSU though. 6 schools from Ohio is just too many - we need to make MAC membership a little more prestigious. Can't has no fan following - drop them. We can still play them in football & b-ball every year. BGSU is just BGSU - a lack-luster institution that no one even knows exists. If you'd ask 100 people outside of Ohio where BGSU is located, I'd bet 99 of them would reply, "What's BGSU?" Toledo can still play them every year, just like we'd maintain our rivalry w/ Can't.Then we need to also drop Temple - just an odd fit. You're right about them. I still like Buffalo though, they fit with a Great Lakes region of the MAC.BuffaloAkronOhioMiamiToledoEMUCMUWMUBall StateNorthern IllinoisWalla (sp?) a more prestigious Great Lakes-region conference.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who watched the Info program on FSN. It was EXCELLENT! Top shelf! Very profesional; very well done!

We haven't mentioned this in quite some time, so, has anyone heard whether or not we are going to get new, tweaked uniforms to open the Info? Speaking of new uni's, I haven't seen VMD on the board in a while. Where you at, bro?

Yesterday I received an invitation to a private party for Foundation Members (I think that's what we season ticket holders are called, right?). It's on Friday night, September 11th from, oh, I forget, 7-11, or something along those lines. It's going to be on the roof of the bomb shelter.It costs $50 per person; you can invite a friend.Is anyone from ZNO planning on going? I wouldn't want to go and just be around a bunch of big $$$ donors. I'd feel like a fish out of water. But if there is going to be considerable showing of ZNO, I'll probably most definitely go!

I walked around the stadium sight yesterday afternoon and noticed a few things.1. If you look @ the renderings of Gate #1 - the main gate located in the SW corner - there is a small building to the east of the gate, opposite to and a mirror image of the Team Shop, which sort of creates a walkway into the gate. This building has been scratched. It still looks great, but a bit more empty than in the original rendering.2. The FirstMerit Club Level sign looks really nice. Someone mentioned they thought that's where a "The University of Akron" sign would look appropriate. No argument there, but the FirstMerit sign does look nice.3. It doesn't look as if there will be glass enclosing the rear of the east grandstands. There are simply blue metal crossbars in some of the sections now. Some of the sections have nothing in them. I'm not as disappointed as I thought I'd be having seen that - it looks pretty good actually; rather industrial.4. The scoreboard looks good the way it is. Not that a brick enclosure wouldn't look great, but there is already so much brick, that the blue metal looks pretty good. The only drawback is that the south side of the facility is a bit barren - especially when all you can see to the south is the shame and blight of E. Exchange Street. Detractors are sure to pounce on that. You can definitely tell that the facility is designed for the future addition of a southside grandstand.

After only ONE day of class?!?!

Lol. The last post on the above link mentions his verbal w Akron. I can't wait to read their responses to this! We are the next Boise State!Fear the Roo! Go Zips!

<br />Nice! Guys back on the roof of our favorite buildings too. I think they are waxing it.<br /><br /><br />Wax on? or Wax off?<br />Mr. Miyagi wax off.

The ABJ blog Varsity Letters just reported that Painesville Riverside WR Lawrence Smith is now a verbal for the Zips. Smith is listed @ 6-0, 190.

Lol, I had the exact thought. He's gonna be the only person alive who's less-than-blown-away by The Info. Lol.

<br />Wrong on all three counts. Can't is our rival and it is good for us to play them every year.<br /><br />BG and Toledo have a long standing rivalry that is good for the MAC so they stay.<br /><br />EMU is a Ohio/Michigan school and geographically makes sense.<br /><br />The three to go are Buffalo, Temple and NIU. <br /><br />I'm not sure why one MAC Championship makes Buffalo a good long term program for the MAC. As soon as the coach leaves, the winning will follow.<br /><br />NIU is not part of th Ohio/Michiagan group. They go. They aren't really a good fit for the MAC geographically. Sorry NIU.<br /><br />Temple. They don't really want to be here anyhow so they can be gone. They are an eastern school that needs to find an eastern conference to take them. The MAC takes schools that nobody else wants and Temple was one of those schools. Given the choice between A-10 BB or MAC football, they would take BB.<br /><br />None of these schools have a rivalry either so they can go. Then we still have the Akron vs Can't, BG vs Toledo, OU vs Miami, Michigan schools vs each other and well there's poor BSU out there, but they are a good fit for the conference.<br /><br /><br /><br />My BlackBerry's gonna make the above quote look goofy. Sorry. GP1, you and I have very divergent opinions on which schools to drop. You like the Ohio-Michigan flavor of the MAC, but I actually think there are too many schools from Ohio and Michigan (especially Ohio.) I said to drop Can't & BGSU precisely to thin out the Ohio representation. I think 4 MAC schools from Ohio are more than enough. Akron in the NE, Toledo in the NW, Ohio in the SE and Miami in the SW. IMHO that's plenty. Then the same reasoning for EMU. Plus they are only 5 minutes from Ann Harbor - they have Mission Impossible job of drumming up much community support.I could def see dropping Temple. No qualms there. I do kinda like Buffalo simply d/t the fact they're also an urban U from a rust belt city, much like us. They've sort of also have a Big East sort of flavor, much how we fancy ourselves.

Yup! We need to drop Can't, BGSU & Eastern Michigan. That would leave us a leaner, meaner, tougher conference consisting of AkronBuffaloTemple (make them join all-in)OhioMiamiToledoCentral MichiganWestern MichiganNorthern Illinois &Ball State

I know. I was just kidding. Normally I'm pretty bitter about the ABJ's lack of Zips coverage, so my suggesting a Beacon subscription was purely tongue-in-cheek. Lol.But you're right, that was a pretty good article! Keep 'em coming on a daily basis, ABJ!

Concerning the D & O-lines.Tom Gaffney

That's kind of vague? How about some specifics? Who looked good? What defense were they playing? Who was getting the snaps? The closer the PSU game is the more hungry I am for information. Help.You obviously need to read the Akron Beacon Journal!

I was able to watch the videos on my laptop last night (I had previously been relegated to watching them on my BlackBerry) and the routine truly is great! I love how you move through seemlessly through the songs. It gives you an adrenaline rush and then doesn't give you a chance to catch your breath till yhe break for the National Anthem! It's fantastic! Once it starts cranking it's a go and you don't give the audience any breaks where they might be tempted to daydream, turn away, or start talking with a neighbor.I am also absolutely thrilled on how you have incorporated the Leat 'em up, eat 'em up, go Zips, go" cheer. I've been torn on that selection for a number of years now because I just find it so strikingly hokey. But... It is tradition, and you want to give careful consideration to disbanning a tradition, even if some may find it dated. But the way you rock through it one, single time, I think, is fantastic! You incorporate the cheer into the show, yet don't dwell on it for too awful long. The way you have it arranged now I think that even I can bring myself to cheer "eat 'em up, eat 'em up, go Zips, go!" a single, strong time.Can't wait!